


Always Two

by Ma_Kir



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Legacy of the Force Series - Aaron Allston & Troy Denning & Karen Traviss, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-27
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-11-05 11:30:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11012538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ma_Kir/pseuds/Ma_Kir
Summary: Two darksiders connected by blood, separated by reality, consumed by power, and tormented by their wills manage to cross paths ... and reaffirm their destinies.





	1. Chapter 1

Darth Caedus sits cross-legged in his room on the _Anakin Solo_ and lets the raw current of the Force pass through him. He reigns these powerful emotions in: gripping them, molding, controlling. The Sith Lord begins to feel it happening. Finally, after many of his setbacks, he is expanding on the technique.  
  
His skill at Battle meditation has only increased since accepting the dark side of the Force into his repertoire of abilities. But feeling his battered body, his injuries from his fight with his old Master and his erstwhile apprentice, he knows right now that he has to go further and farther. And so, Darth Caedus reaches out into what he had been taught was the lens of the Unifying Force -- the part of the Force or the sentient conception of it -- and sees what he can of space-time.  
  
Once, long ago, Darth Caedus had been taught that the future was always in motion: especially with regards to the Force ability of farseeing. But now, years later and a Master in his own way and right, he understands that the truth is far more complex. Perhaps the Aing-Tii perspective of the Force and reality having multiple spectrums affected him far more than even he thought possible.  
  
As it is, he sees a multitude of threads and webs of possibility. Some of them are the lives of his men, of his enemies, and others are of the past and the future and ....  
  
One knot draws him in. Even now, at this stage in his power, Darth Caedus is hard pressed to know why. All he feels is that it's somehow ... familiar yet distant. Like one of Vergere's infuriating riddles, or Lumiya's deceptive tassels, it draws his fascination and his focus. And your focus, as an old Jedi Master once said, determined your reality.  
  
The dark side of the Force doesn't so much roar, as it whispers a suggestion. And Darth Caedus, appreciating it, yet still perplexed, follows the thread in his meditations even as suddenly, almost without warning, he feels himself torn out of his physical form down this burning path to another place, another time, towards something else that's similar to him, yet different.  
  
Something, or someone ...

*

Kylo Ren sits in his dormitory. Everything stings, both figuratively and literally. Even after extensive treatment and meditation, his ribs where the bowcaster bolt hit him still hurts. And his face burns. His skin still crackles from where the girl slashed him with his grandfather's stolen Jedi blade.  
  
The Knight of Ren focuses on that feeling. He channels the anger at being so injured by a slip of a girl with the sheer force of her raw talent as opposed to any formal skill, the humiliation of Armitage Hux finding his battered form, the fear of failing his Master, and the unique feeling, one he is still in the process of exploring, of knowing that he out of everyone in the galaxy did the most difficult and found that he has finally killed Han Solo.  
  
Now his training continues. Supreme Leader never lets up on him. He is molding him, changing him into the powerful being that he needs to be in order to complete the Great Work. He is finally going to finish what he started. He needs the furnace inside him to blaze again, multifaceted like the power raging through the cracked kyber crystal of his lightsaber blade.  
  
And even though he failed in retrieving his grandfather's lightsaber, he still has the part of him that matters.  
  
It is something that no one, neither his former Master, nor his parents, nor especially his recent opponent could ever appreciate. Not even Supreme Leader Snoke had this powerful a connection to the past as he does with the object in front of him. The weathered, burned remnants of Darth Vader's helmet stare across the room at his grandson: sitting in the ashes of all the enemies that Kylo Ren had ever destroyed. He gathers the darkness, the seething fear, anger, hate, and suffering inside of his core and uses his grandfather's helmet as that physical focus, that anchor that he needs to access his metaphysical centre in the storm inside himself, attempting to see himself reflected in the dead, warped gaze of Darth Vader's shattered visor.  
  
 _Grandfather,_ he tells the helmet, telling the other's spirit, telling the darkness, telling himself, _let my sacrifice blaze forth and extinguish the call to the light. Speak to me, grandfather._  
  
Kylo Ren reaches out a single black gloved hand and draws on the power of the dark side churning inside of him, against his feelings, the serpentine dragon struggling against himself. Usually, there is only silence in the dark grey room of his quarters where the shell of his grandfather's remnants reside. But then ... something happens. He feels something ignite inside of him. It is more than he hoped for. The dragon roars and the power of the dark side flows through the Knight of Ren.  
  
The dark warrior forgets the pain of his scars as the shadows of the room coalesce around the faded helmet of Darth Vader and form into a humanoid shape created out of pure darkness. Kylo Ren knows that he has called this power. At last, it has answered him. But, before can ask, he already knows the truth.  
  
Whatever the presence is, it's not his grandfather. Even so, it speaks to him. It calls him. It is not the light, but the dark. And that is enough for Kylo Ren as he reaches out his mind ...


	2. Chapter 2

Their minds collide into fire and shadows.

Glittering dark brown eyes stare into a gaze turned golden-red by power. A long, thin pale face with an angry red scar across it under a mop of black hair regards a dark-brown haired visage with laugh lines turned into bitter slashes around his eyes and mouth. It is the distortion of looking into a two-way mirror darkly. Both reach into the other's subconscious, or perhaps they do so instinctively -- neither are sure nor particularly care about these specifics -- but the Force burns through their psyche and clashes against two names.

Jacen.

Ben.

The Knight of Ren and the Dark Lord of the Sith mentally draw back. The Knight's face twists into a snarl of anger. The Sith Lord's mouth curls into a sneer and his glowing eyes narrow consideringly, dangerously.

"He is a dead man." The dark warrior snarls. " I am Kylo Ren, Master of the Knights of Ren. You would do well to remember that."

"So is that name." The Sith Lord says slowly, pondering. "I done discussing dead men. I am Darth Caedus."

"There are no Sith. Not anymore. My grandfather was the last of the true Sith."

"Interesting. For someone who feels as though he has to proclaim what he is, you certainly use much energy attempting to be humble."

Kylo Ren's scarred face twists into one of rage, but it twitches slightly. "What are you? Some kind of test? From ... Supreme Leader?"

"Supreme Leader." Darth Caedus muses, looking around the stark grey confines of the other's dormitory. "No. Not here. And I have never heard of the Knights of Ren before. What are you? Some form of darksider cult? Working with a part of the Imperial Remnant? How interesting. I must have flow-walked here. But I don't remember consciously ..."

"Flow-walking ..." Kylo Ren shakes his head. "Don't you dare ignore me! The First Order will rule this galaxy. My Master will not be pleased over an interloper meddling in our affairs."

"Hmm. So, well if you are vision of what could have been, or could be, you certainly require more ... interpretation."

There is a ripple in the Force as a cylinder flies into Kylo Ren's outstretched hand. It ignites into a cross-guard red glowing blade as the cylinder impacts with his palm as it sweeps down ... right through the transparent darkness of Darth Caedus.

"A ... unique weapon, compared to a shoto or a double-bladed weapon." Darth Caedus says, stepping away from the blade as if nothing had happened. "But very poor impulse control on your part, Ren. Honestly, I have seen Dark Jedi and younglings with more patience than you."

Kylo Ren's forehead furrows. The dark warrior looks down at his blade and takes his thumb off the ignition switch, deactivating the lightsaber. He looks up again at Darth Caedus and concentrates. "And you ... you are almost out of it. If you haven't run out already."

The Sith Lord chuckles without mirth. "You have no idea. Then again ... huh. Perhaps you might. This really is interesting."

The two regard each other for a minute, calculating, analyzing.

"How is this possible?" Kylo Ren says. "For all you think I'm some rank amateur, and I know you do, you are definitely no hologram. Not an attempt by my Master to manipulate my mind. Perhaps, an aberration of the Cosmic Force? I'd almost be tempted to say that ..."

"... you are going mad? Yes." Darth Caedus scratches his head. "The thought had occurred to me too. The Cosmic Force? I've not heard that theory before. But, somehow, I think we both know, don't we."

"Yes." Uncertainty and conviction waver in Kylo Ren's voice like the forces of light and darkness inside his heart. "It looks like my old teacher taught you the ways of the Force, Caedus."

"As he taught you. Somehow." The Sith Lord paces around the other.

Kylo Ren tenses, his body immediately going on guard. "I can feel you in my mind. Strangely. Like my ..."

"... like my mother. And my siblings. As I used to feel my twin." Darth Caedus shakes his head. "It is uncomfortable."

"It's infuriating!" Kylo Ren shouts. "Your weakness is disgusting! You are still attached to them."

"Hardly. I ...:" The other sighs. "It's true. Even after everything. I still feel for them."

"And I ... ha. I succeeded!" Kylo Ren grins suddenly. "I destroyed the Jedi before they could be reborn! And you failed!"

"It's true. They did survive. You killed a few untrained initiates, stabbing them in the back ... then leaving Uncle Luke for dead. You couldn't even finish the job. Congratulations, Ren. You killed children, just like Grandfather."

"And you couldn't even kill your Master! And your apprentice turned on you!"

"And the girl you obsess over overcame the great Master of the Knights of Ren. At least I have another apprentice."

"Just a tool. You really wanted the boy. You wanted .... Ben ..."

Darth Caedus smirks, twisting the scars on his own face. "And you want the girl for yourself. Tell me, when were you going to tell her that you were the apprentice and not the Master? Or are so weak you need an untrained Force-sensitive to help you bring him down?"

"Your Masters both died for you. You didn't even kill them yourself. Is that are Sith are now ... wherever you come from after Grandfather died? Ha!"

"And you have never even thought about killing yours."

There is a silence in the room. It belies the unseen crackling energies between both dark warrior and Sith Lord. It is brief.

"It's true, isn't it Ren? Whoever ... whatever you are ... Ha." Darth Caedus smiles. "My apprentice might be a tool, but you are just as much a tool as she. And you have no excuse. You have all of that untapped, raw power inside of you. And you keep yourself back with those attachments. All for a girl."

"And you do all of what you do for a little girl."

For a few moments Darth Caedus' eyes do not so much as burn but blaze. But just as quickly, the fire simmers down back into his core as he nods to himself. "And you spared a little girl, once."

Kylo Ren sits down on his mattress, never taking his dark eyes off of the intruder. Darth Caedus' glowing eyes regard him until, finally, the Sith Lord crosses his arms. "You know, I think now understand why this happened."

"Really."

"Yes. You know, whatever you are Kylo Ren: a part of my mind, a vision, an alternative path, I think we might be able to help one another."

"You must be a vision from the Force, as my Master told me." Kylo Ren says. "Darth Caedus or whatever you, you are just a facet of the power, tempting me, forming disorder. I will master this power. And I will bring order, true balance, to this galaxy."

"It is what I want as well."

"For the girl?"

"For everyone. Even if I have to be the villain. Even if I have to die. A small price to pay for peace. Are you willing to die for that as well, Kylo Ren?"

Kylo Ren regards the other. "Very well, Darth Caedus. I am listening."


	3. Chapter 3

"Attachments can be weakness." Darth Caedus says. "But also useful tools. You can undermine them in others. And as tools serving you, they can make you stronger. They can accomplish your goals."

"Supreme Leader taught me as much. Tell me something I don't know, apparition."

"Well, for starters begin thinking for yourself. Stop hiding behind that ridiculous mask. You won't honour your ... grandfather acting like a child playing dress-up. Take the light inside of you --"

"No!" Kylo Ren jumps to his feet. "There is no light in me!" 

"That is a load of shavit and you know it. I can see some parts of mind through, whatever this mockery of a bond is. I will say one thing for your 'Supreme Leader.' Teaching you the Jedi arts and those of the dark side is good in cultivating the conflict inside of you."

"No. No, the light is weakness." The dark warrior begins to pace around. "It was what I was feeling at the interrogation. It was what I felt on Starkiller Base. That was why I was defeated so easily. That was why ..."

"No, Kylo Ren. The truth is, it is only by embracing that conflict that you will gain the power that you need. The dark side is not a passive shadow. Think of it as smoke that comes from fire. And fire is light. Use that suffering inside of you. Use Dad's -- use Han Solo's death and the grief you feel. Accept it. You killed your own father for power. Hate yourself. Hate him for always leaving you. For being afraid of you. For looking down on you. Miss your family. Hate them for misunderstanding you. For keeping the truth away from you. Honour what you lost by sacrificing it to the pyre inside of you like Grandfather's armour on Endor." Darth Caedus clenches a fist in front of Kylo Ren. "And then it will all fall into place."

"The way she defeated me." Kylo Ren said, distantly. "Before it. She said I was afraid I would never become as powerful as Darth Vader." 

"Darth Vader was a weak, crippled man in an iron mask who threw away his power out of stupidity, losing a fight he could have won easily, and becoming the slave of an old man he should have killed ages ago for a wife and children that became his enemies. We are better than that! You have the bloodline and the power. And she will come to you. So will your old Master. Think about it, Ren. You don't have to find him. He will find you. She will find him, train with him, and come back to you."

"And ... then what?"

"Then? First, you continue to train. You learn Snoke's lessons. You gain power. You make your alliances and move your Knights of Ren against each other. You figure out which ones are the most adaptable. The most powerful in that adaptability. You place them and other agents in your First Order. You gain contacts. And you wait. You wait until Luke Skywalker and his new apprentice come out. You wage war. You have already crippled the New Republic or whatever else is here and as you fight your Rebellion, your Resistance, you will embrace that power and topple your Master. That is the only way you will do this. Turn your attachments into weapons. And win."

Kylo Ren sits down back down on the bed. "No. I am loyal to Supreme Leader. He has much to teach me. If he senses ..."

"He cannot sense this conversation. And even if he does, it's all in your head. And any dark side adept that doesn't think his apprentice will try to kill him one day, is a fool. Besides, I am sure you have mental shields powerful enough to keep the details away from him if Luke's basic teachings were worth a damn."

"They weren't worth much, in the end." Kylo Ren looks past Darth Caedus at the mask of his grandfather in its shrine of ashes. "And you, Caedus. Will you have the power to do what must be done?"

"... I will do what I have to. I've already made myself that promise."

"It will hurt."

"I know." Darth Caedus whispers. "And I already do. I have already begun preparing myself for how much it will."

"I know you have." Kylo Ren considers. "If I were you, somewhere, wherever you come from or however it is, I would throw away that Rule of Two. That Sith Order is over. There is a reason why the Knights of Ren exist. One apprentice is good, but if you want tools, you should get more of them. And you should prepare to do something with your Republic, your ... Alliance."

"Yes. That is reasonable advice. The Sith always had acolytes, after all. I shall take it under consideration."

Darth Caedus turns away and his form begins to fade. Kylo Ren watches as the other loses cohesion, feeling the Force retreat back into the dark placidity with spikes of aggression that has been feeling before. "Wait." 

Caedus doesn't turn around. "What is it?"

The Knight of Ren almost considers not saying anything more "... do you ... still miss them?"

Darth Caedus inclines his head. For a few moments Kylo Ren thinks he can see the other's eyes fade to brown. "Yes. That is the price. Remember that."

And then, the apparition that was Darth Caedus is gone.


	4. Chapter 4

Kylo Ren regards the place where the vision, where the apparition, used to stand.

It was a powerful experience, whatever it was. Supreme Leader told him, along with his old Master, that the Force often possessed great mysteries. Lessons about midichlorians communicating his presence through the Living Force to the Cosmic and back were almost lost on him. The dark side, through his grandfather, was attempting to teach him a lesson beyond that of even the Supreme Leader.

It was strange. Sometimes the vision's voice sounded like his own, or that they were both speaking at the same time and thinking similar thoughts. It even almost looked like him, or his grandfather. Yes. He can see the resemblance, from before he embraced and then shirked his destiny in one moment of weakness. Or was it just one moment?

Kylo Ren shakes his head. He must remain steadfast now. He must remember the pain and let it consume him like a primitive internal combustion engine. Let the fire simmer through his blood like the vision suggested. Somehow, he can feel the strength burning through the weakness he experienced on Starkiller Base: through the death of his father. He still wasn't sure that the spirits of those who embraced the dark side could talk to their successors, on that Supreme Leader was never particularly clear, but he hoped that this was his grandfather showing him the way to do what must be done. That the dark side made its will clear.

As he will make his own will clear soon.

He feels the presence and satisfaction of Supreme Leader at the borders of his mind. He is summoned. As Kylo Ren clips his lightsaber onto his belt, he considers taking his helmet, but thinks differently. Instead, he leaves it behind with that of his grandfather's.

He will face this test with his own eyes. Kylo Ren and his Knights will be triumphant. The last Jedi will die and he will teach Rey the true ways of the Force. It is their destiny.

*

Darth Caedus feels the tether linking his essence and his body drag him back to his reality. The Sith Lord opens his eyes. The sparse surroundings of his cabin in the Anakin Solo greet him morosely.

He ponders over what he has just experienced. It was as though he had somehow experienced a powerful farseeing vision bordering on instinctual flow-walking. It was both terrifying and utterly interesting. Somehow, the Force had opened him to an alternate possibility of experience, to someone like him, or another version of him. Maybe it was the remnants of the arrogant self-satisfied person he was amalgamated into the dark impulses he could barely control. He wonders, briefly though, if the Force can go beyond looking or observing the past and future ... if it can somehow see into alternate timelines instead.

He will have time to think this over, once he has ended the Rebellion and brought the Alliance to where he has to be. It makes sense not to impose the Rule of Two that so dominated Lumiya, and possibly Vergere. Both seemed to be transitioning out that direction on their own in any case. That will make for more variety and a better galaxy. And he will take the pain and passion and embrace, hone it, and remember his own lessons to his vision. His daughter will have the throne and future that she deserves, even if it costs him his life. Even if it costs him her love.

The bond he sensed earlier, an illusion, is gone. Only the emptiness of the broken link between him and his sister remains. Once more, Darth Caedus is alone.


End file.
